UNIVERSE WITHIN by Gwen Randall-Young

Do you know who your ancestors are? It is not something in our culture that we spend a lot of time thinking about. We are much more about being in the Now. However, viewing our lives from our place in the long line of individuals who came before us, and those who will come after, is very humbling.
Even if we do not have information about our own lineage, we can still look generally at our species. It is amazing to think about how resourceful humans have been, and the intelligence that was required to reach this point in our evolution. What courage it took for those who set out for unknown lands, with only the stars to guide them across vast oceans.
Imagine that you could go back 50 generations or more and peek into each of these individuals’ lives. Think of the stories, the struggles, and the joys and the sorrows, the baton of life continually passed from one generation to the next. So, while we can think of ourselves as souls that have come here to manifest our destiny, at the same time we are inalterably linked to chains of beings on both our maternal and paternal sides. While our spirits connect us to the divine oneness of the universe, our bodies are our link to the very earth that gave rise to life and that which continues to sustain it.
Like an incoming tide, each generation is a wave that carries life that much farther into the future. We could also think of it as a plant that re-seeds itself at the end of its growing season. The old blossoms die, but seeds are left to make new flowers again in the spring.
On the one hand, our lives are everything. We are the central player in the story that is our lifetime. On the other hand, we are but a small link in a very long chain. Five generations from now, we will be someone’s ancestor. The details of our lives will for the most part have evaporated like the morning mist on a hot summer day. From the larger perspective it is not about living our life but rather life living through us. When we think of it this way, we begin to grasp the folly of all our attachments.
Recently, while I was on vacation, a realtor was holding an open house in a beautiful, oceanfront, two-storey condo. I could not resist taking a look. The apartment was immaculate, and simply, but beautifully furnished. It was an end unit, so it afforded broad ocean views from both the front and the side. The realtor informed us that the owner, an elderly gentleman who lived alone, had recently died in a motor vehicle accident.
As I looked around, I thought about how one day he had left his beautiful home and never returned. All the memories, thoughts, and feelings he had had when he occupied that space went with him. I imagined the guests he may have entertained there, or family members who visited. Echoes of the life that was lived there now exist only in the minds of those who shared his life. Eventually, they too shall all be gone. What survives is a genetic code that lives on in his descendants, as well as the values and beliefs that may have been passed on. What also survives is spirit, for it is not born and does not die. It is eternal.
Perhaps, when we are done here, we will meet up with our ancestors, and like players after the game, sit around and talk about how we did. We can be sure that the discussion will focus on what we did in our little sphere to move humankind forward in a positive direction. It will be about the way that we lived our lives, the values we lived by, and what we taught our children. It will not be about our dramas, accomplishments, or acquisitions. Those will be irrelevant. In the end, my guess is that the most important thing will be how we treated others.
In the meantime, our lives unfold in the Now. However, the Now does not exist in isolation. We can live in the Now, but we must not completely lose sight of all that came before, and all that is yet to come, for that is our human context.
Gwen Randall-Young is an author and psychotherapist in private practice. For more articles or information about her books or transformational CDs, visit www.gwen.ca